Uncheckered
by Rain-chin
Summary: Naruto's one and only dream was to become Hokage. Everyone in the village would recognize him as a powerful shinobi. His dream however is shattered when Hiruzen tells him that he is unable to use chakra. In the wake of his world falling apart, Naruto acquires a new power. Smart and powerful Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Dreams

Yesterday was Naruto's birthday. He had turned five. Unlike other days where he would try and put on an act of being hyperactive to get noticed, today he was very still. It was because he had just heard the one thing that he hadn't expected to hear.

Naruto was a dreamer if anything. Sometimes he would get lost in the idea of him wearing the clothes of Jiji, proudly walking the streets of Konoha as the fifth Hokage. But all that meant nothing now.

"You can't use chakra, I'm sorry Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes were wide open when he heard the words leave Jiji's lips. He sat on a chair in front of the desk of the old man. Naruto looked into the brown eyes of his surrogate grandfather. More than anything he hoped to find a comical expression, but reality was different. Jiji wasn't laughing, waiting to tell Naruto that he was kidding. No, Jiji looked very different than usual. Jiji looked like he suddenly had more weight on his old shoulders.

"B-but why Jiji!?" Naruto yelled as tears slid down his smooth cheeks.

Jiji looked at him from his seat across the desk. "Naruto-kun, the human body is made of energy that we shinobi call chakra. Everyone has chakra and theoretically almost everyone can use it. The majority of the world can't perform ninjutsu because they have not been trained in the arts of chakra manipulation.

I said theoretically everyone because not everyone can manipulate chakra. There are some individuals whose chakra coils are blocked. It is not a defect, rather a genetic attribute passed on. Naruto-kun, you possess this genetic attribute.

I'm sorry."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. This couldn't be true. Everyone else in the world could use chakra, even civilians, but he couldn't? For the following seconds Naruto's world twisted around, he couldn't even hear the words that Jiji mumbled about him not being the only one. The only thing that mattered now was that he had to give up on his dream to become the Hokage.

"Naruto-kun?" Jiji's voice sounded shocked, but Naruto was still trapped in his mind.

"Naruto!"

"Naruto! Snap out of it!"

Naruto blinked and saw that Jiji held him by his shoulders. The look of being saddened had transformed into a look of shock and worry. He was confused, because one moment Jiji was sitting behind his desk, and the next he was right in front of him. He wondered what had just happened.

Moreover, something caught his eye. The entire room of Jiji was in upheaval. Papers were spread on the ground, nearby chairs had fallen down and the window behind Jiji was cracked. Several people with masks hiding their faces and kunai drawn stood behind Jiji. Naruto was absolutely clueless.

And then the world became hazy and dizzy. Jiji's worried look increased as darkness swept Naruto into a peaceful unconsciousness.

It was several days later when Naruto woke up in his apartment. He looked up at his ceiling. He couldn't remember what had happened. He only remembered hearing that he had to quit being a shinobi.

"I'm glad you're awake Naruto-kun," a familiar voice said from his left. Naruto turned his head and found out that it was Jiji.

He rose and sat on his bed, rubbed his eyes out and looked with a sad expression towards Jiji. "Jiji, what should I do now? I can't be a shinobi anymore," completely forgetting about having blacked out in Hiruzen's office.

Hiruzen was surprised. Naruto had apparently no knowledge of what had transpired in his office several days ago.

"Naruto-kun, you can still be a shinobi," he said finally with a hint of hope in his voice, "you don't have to give up."

"But Jiji, you said that I can't use chakra while everyone else can!" Naruto's eyes became wet again, tears threatening to fall.

Hiruzen looked around carefully, trying to avoid what had happened in his office. He could already feel small tremors underneath his feet. Naruto seemed not to be aware of what he was doing.

"Naruto-kun, there have been and still are shinobi in the ranks of Konoha that cannot use chakra, scarce in number they may be, but they are there, even a jonin," when Hiruzen said this, the boy's eyes seemed to show hope once again.

"But I don't think you need to worry about using ninjutsu Naruto-kun, you have something else, far more powerful," at the confused look of the boy of five, Hiruzen pointed around the room.

Naruto's eyes widened and his jaw lowered. His entire room was shaking. No, rather, his entire apartment was shaking, as if there was a small earthquake. Behind Jiji something fell down from a table and he could hear dishes breaking in the kitchen.

"That's all you Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said before putting his hand on the boy's head. He looked the boy of five straight in the eyes and said, "from this day onward you're going to be my apprentice."

And Naruto's heart filled with hope once again. The tremors stopped a moment later.

_One month later_

Naruto stood in the middle of a forest clearing. He wore dark pants, an orange sweater and a dark sleeveless flak jacket. A standard katana with a black handle lay rested in the holder on his back. The blade was made fit for someone his size. But Naruto wasn't here for sword training.

Several whizzing sounds came at him from different directions. Naruto had his brows furrowed in concentration. Someone sane would jump up, duck or make an inclination to deflect whatever was coming his way, but Naruto did something different. He yelled and grunted. Just before the shuriken could lodge into his abdomen and skull, they stopped in midair. With another grunt they fell down harmlessly on the grass beneath him.

"Jiji this is hard!" Naruto complained as sweat trickled down his forehead. Hiruzen appeared in front of him, this time not in his usual Hokage attire, but in his old jonin garbs which still fit him.

"Naruto-kun, stand up," Hiruzen said when he noticed that the boy had dropped to one knee.

To Hiruzen it had been a very interesting month to say the least. Naruto's new unlocked powers, which Hiruzen could only call telekinesis, were very strange and mysterious. Hiruzen understood that this new ability was fueled by one's mind. Whereas regular shinobi use hand seals, Naruto need only use his mind to control the objects around him. It took its toll from the five year old.

Sputtering with complains Naruto stood on wobbly legs. Jiji sure was a slave driver he thought. The past month Jiji had all but forced him to read books, train in the Sarutobi clan's tai- and kenjutsu, do countless amounts of jogging and when he was done with that, they were training his new abilities. It was all worth it though, he thought, at least now he could become a shinobi.

"Time to jog twenty times around Konoha, no buts, get going."

Naruto wondered if he should regret being Jiji's student. His legs were killing him. This was not what he thought training under the Hokage was going to be like.

_Six months later_

Ten shuriken were launched at him from any possible angle. Naruto blinked and a second later the sharp objects were floating in the air around him. He blinked once more and the shuriken fell down to the forest floor.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

This time Naruto put two hands in front of him as a large circular wave of fire headed straight for him, incinerating the forest floor beneath its trajectory. Naruto grunted slightly as the fire suddenly stopped inches from his hands. With another grunt he forced the fire to change its course and head straight upwards into the sky. A trickle of sweat formed on his forehead.

"Good Naruto-kun, that was excellent," Hiruzen said having appeared behind Naruto. Hiruzen had his arms crossed over his chest. Naruto was making remarkable progress. They hadn't even trained together for a year. _"Like father, like son,"_ he thought sadly.

"So what now Hiruzen-sensei," Naruto had decided to replace jiji with something that sounded more respectful towards his teacher. They were training on a daily basis for the past six months. Of course maybe a book on shinobi ethics told him it would be wise to call your sensei, sensei, and not an old geezer.

"Jogging."

"Fifty times this time? Or a hundred?" Naruto had adapted quickly to the extreme and crazy cardio exercises that Hiruzen-sensei gave him.

"Fifty, you need to read up tonight too, tomorrow I'll be testing your fūinjutsu," strange, although Naruto could not even do the simplest of shinobi jutsu, he could perform fūinjutsu, and he was good at it, though not surprising considering his parents and heritage. It did leave Hiruzen wondering. He knew for a certainty that fūinjutsu required chakra as well.

Naruto nodded and went on his way. Training with Hiruzen-sensei was tough, but he could do things now that he could only dream of before.

_One year later_

Naruto sat in his apartment, leaning over a complex seal. Books, sealing papers and brushes lay all around the just turned six year old.

He was mumbling to himself. This seal was tough. It was something made by an advanced sealing master. He noticed that when he saw how precise and sharp the symbols had been written. Even though the seal was performed by a master, it wasn't a master level seal in itself. It was because of that, that Naruto said, "I've got it," fifteen minutes later. He put both hands on the seal. The words on the seal glowed white before the seal disappeared and an orange book appeared in its place.

Naruto raised his right eyebrow wondering what Hiruzen-sensei deemed so important for him to solve. Its contents must be very important. Hiruzen-sensei said something about _"S –class secret, do not read under any circumstances". _Gulping he read over the cover of the book. "Icha Icha Paradise?" Naruto questioned out loud, "must be made to look like an adult novel, the insides must be filled with S-class secrets," he mumbled.

Gulping as his curiosity got the better of him, Naruto turned to the first page, "Huh?" He turned to the second page. Still nothing. It wasn't until he had scanned over all the three hundred pages of the novel that he yelled "what!"

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked the next day as Naruto handed him an orange book. In his mind, Hiruzen was mortified when he looked down to see the title of the novel. He had accidentally given Naruto a seal which held one of his favorite novels.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" Naruto said too quickly as he tried not making eye contact with his sensei.

"You didn't read the book did you?" Hiruzen said with cheeks reddening ever so slightly.

"What? Of course not, you said not to," but both sensei and student knew better.

Naruto had never known that a man so dignified as his sensei would be into _those _kind books.

_Six years later_

"I have to what? No I don't want to, absolutely not, no way sensei," Naruto said mortified.

"That wasn't a request, it was an order."

"The hell I am, no way," Naruto said with twitching brows. But he knew that the decision was already made, regardless of how much he cried and begged for it not to be.

"I want you to head to the academy and sit there with the graduation class until the teacher assigns you into a three man cell with a jonin instructor."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – All for one, and one for all

It didn't make any sense to Naruto. Why was he being placed in a team of fresh genin? He was miles ahead of them in terms of his shinobi career. Sure, he hadn't done any missions together with a team, but was that reason enough? How was it fair that he had to sit in the back of a classroom with people talking loudly about how happy they were that they were promoted to genin.

As far as Naruto was aware of, no one in the room was actually genin because they needed to pass the test supplied by their Jonin-sensei, to be or not to be. More than likely at least half of the people in the crowded classroom would flunk the test and have to redo the year in a remedial class.

With his honed skills he had managed to take a seat at the far back of the room without anyone noticing. When a few people had looked behind, they widened their eyes.

"Look it's Naruto!" Kiba, the dog boy said with a high pitched voice that could only belong to a boy going through puberty. Everyone turned to look.

He hadn't seen any of them in years, but he didn't really care. So when Kiba started to make fun of him for wearing darker clothes, starkly contrasting his previous bright colors, Naruto completely ignored him by looking at the wall to his left. He tuned out the voices of the murmurs that followed.

Now, twenty minutes later, no one paid him any attention. Naruto more than welcome that.

The door of the classroom creaked open and in walked a shinobi with a scar running through his noise. He had brown hair. Naruto noted that the teacher, like most teachers in the academy, was a chunin. Silently Naruto wondered how long it would take him to knock out the chunin.

If there was one bad habit that Naruto had, something that Hiruzen could not drill out of him, it was his need to prove himself. Whenever someone of chunin rank or above was around him, Naruto measured them up. His fingers twitched to start a fight, but his long hours of meditation always kicked in time to stop him from doing something that his sensei would disapprove of.

An hour later the groups were made. Naruto was placed with the last surviving Uchiha and a pink haired civilian girl. He didn't even pay them attention, seeing as they were ants to him. He caught the civilian, called Sakura, giving him odd looks every now and then as they waited for their jonin instructor. Sometimes she would even fiddle with her hair.

Naruto sighed when thirty minutes passed and no one but their team stood waiting to be picked up.

With every minute passing, Naruto had a hunch as to who the jonin instructor could be. There was only one jonin in the shinobi corps known for his tardiness.

"Yo," Hatake Kakashi said almost two hours later, "I'm your new instructor, the first order of business is to meet me up at the roof," and the jonin disappeared in a swirl of leaves, completely missing the complains Sakura gave after he left. Sasuke, the Uchiha, grunted, but otherwise gave no inclination of caring.

"So, how about we begin with introductions? Like your name, likes, dislikes and dream," Kakashi looked towards Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura! I like…," Sakura flushed as she looked down and sideways towards Sasuke, "my dislikes are loud and stupid people," Naruto had to force himself not to burst out laughing considering Sakura had fought with a blonde girl over who could sit next to Sasuke for over fifteen minutes, "my dream is to become…." Again she looked sideways towards Sasuke. Naruto definitely knew he was screwed with the girl in his team. She was a complete airhead as far as he could see.

Sasuke looked ahead with fingers overlaying the back of each of his hands as his arms were in front of him when Kakashi nodded towards him, "my name is Uchiha Sasuke, I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." Great Naruto thought, a border-line psycho who had a tunnel vision.

Naruto stared straight back into the only visible eye that belonged to the legendary jonin when it was his turn. Naruto had met Kakashi on several occasions. Many of them were when he personally guarded his sensei from the shadows. He had always worn a mask when he wasn't alone with his sensei, so no one really knew who he was at the Hokage Tower. As far as the shinobi corpse was aware, he was just another Anbu.

Naruto did not know for how long Hiruzen-sensei wanted him to stay a genin, but unless he wanted repercussions in the form of Hiruzen-sensei giving him stacks of paperwork, he decided he had best work along.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like to eat a lot, I dislike lazy people," he gave Kakashi a sharp look, who didn't seem fazed, "my dream is to become the strongest shinobi to have ever lived." Sasuke and Sakura gave him queer looks when he said that, Kakashi nodded and gave an eye smile.

"Good, now that's out of the way….," Kakashi explained about how just graduating from the academy didn't mean that you actually made genin, you still had to pass the test of the jonin instructor assigned to your squad. This startled Sakura, made Sasuke grunt and Naruto, Naruto didn't care because he already knew.

But when Kakashi told his three potential students that they were advised not to eat when they met him the early in the morning the next day, Naruto made a decision. First he made sure the jonin had really gone after he left, when he was sure, he looked towards Sakura and Sasuke.

"I hope you two don't take his advice seriously, just eat, otherwise you won't have the energy to do any sort of physical test properly."

"Are you deaf baka?" Sakura started, "he ordered us not to eat!"

Naruto ignored the deaf remark, trash was trash after all, "you're the deaf one here pinkie, he said _I advice you not to eat anything in the morning, _did I pronounce the word _advice _wrong or do I need to spell it for you?"

Sakura was stunned as she widened her eyes. She remembered Naruto to be a clingy childish idiot who always wanted her attention, now he seemed mean. She failed to realize that she was the one that instigated Naruto's sharp response.

"Do whatever you want," Naruto turned, "just don't blame me when you can't dodge a punch because you were too hungry, oh and remember, since when do shinobi not prepare properly before a mission? That includes ingesting enough glucose to fuel your body."

Naruto proceeded to walk towards the edge of the roof and jumped down.

Sasuke saw the logic in what the dead-last said, although he wouldn't admit it. Something had changed in the dead-last of the academy. He only knew Naruto for a few months years ago before the blond suddenly dropped out, but in that period he gave the impression of a needy class clown. Now he seemed very different.

{Reason}

To say that Naruto had entirely changed his ways was an understatement. In the past years he has undergone mental and physical training. It prepared him from simple errands to preventing assassination attempts on the Hokage. But according to Hiruzen, Naruto was unprepared for many other situations. One of those was joining a squad with green ninja who hadn't even killed before.

So when said green ninja arrived at the meeting point, a bridge in between Konoha and one of its training grounds. He was surprised to see them actually having listened to him the previous day. Both of them looked well nourished.

Sasuke ignored Naruto and stood at the opposite end of the bridge's railing to where Naruto leaned. Naruto wondered what the raven haired boy was thinking, because Sasuke was looking straight at him. Naruto did not pay him any attention. This made Sasuke annoyed, but Naruto could care less what an arrogant twat's opinion was like.

Altogether different was the pink haired girl, Sakura. When she arrived close behind Sasuke, she was smiling and looking dreamy towards the back of Sasuke. When she saw Naruto, she froze before averting her eyes and standing close to Sasuke. Naruto immediately knew that the girl was going to be a liability if anything else. The way she seemed only to care about what Sasuke did or thought unnerved the blond.

One thing that unnerved Naruto even more than a teenage girl with a crush was people arriving late. Naruto of course knew who Hatake Kakashi was. How could he not? He had spent years with the Hokage, seeing him debrief shinobi or hand out missions. Kakashi was always late when he was summoned by the Hokage and always had a lazy attitude. That made Naruto's hand twitch on many occasions. On some occasions it almost revealed his presence from the shadows when on guard duty.

So to fight going insane while waiting for hours until Kakashi arrived, Naruto devised a plan the night before.

"I know you two think I'm an idiot and a clown, but if you listen to this clown today, we will all make genin by the end of the day," this peaked both Sasuke and Sakura's attention. The hook with bait was cast.

"I'm pretty sure that you two are wondering why there is another test while in the academy they tell you that passing the exam means becoming genin, right? Well, they want to test our future merit as shinobi. You two are at the top of the class right?" Both nodded. The fish were biting.

"I'm going to flat out tell you that the only thing that they're going to test is teamwork, surely you two must have realized this? I mean, look at me! I'm supposed to be the lowest of the lowest, remember how they pulled me out of class years ago? Why would they let someone as weak as me pass?" Both looked puzzled.

"It's because a shinobi is worthless if they can't cooperate in a team. See, that crafty Kakashi is going to come in hours from now and make up a stupid story to drive us apart, if we can stay together as a team, we'll become genin." The fish were biting a lot.

"Judging from how Kakashi is, he's probably going to tell us only one or two of us can pass, but when have you ever heard of a genin team composed of only a jonin and one or two genin? Never, duh." Hook, line and sinker, gotcha, Naruto thought.

"How do you know all this Naruto?" Sakura asked a bit uncertain.

Now was the time for Naruto to think up a lie. But Naruto was horrible at lying. Every time he tried he would start grinning like a five year old. He hated it.

So instead of lying, he decided to tell the truth, well at least partially.

"Well I was pulled from the academy because I have special needs, so they forced me into the library to read every day! It was a hell!" Okay, so maybe he wasn't so bad at lying. Or maybe it helped that grinning about hating reading, while he actually liked reading, made it seem that much more believable.

"So I read this book about how the academy graduates students and how a genin team is always composed of three genin and a jonin sensei." That wasn't a lie because he had read that book.

"So Kakashi's lying?" Sasuke said a little confused. Naruto could see in his expression that Sasuke just now realized that they had to pass as a team, or not at all.

When Sasuke chimed in to listen to what Naruto had to say, Sakura soon followed. Naruto was glad that the girl was basically a slave to the Uchiha's will, because it would help them pass Kakashi's stupid test.

"Yo, what are you huddled together for?" Kakashi asked as he arrived at the bridge. He saw how Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were whispering in a circle before he made his entrance. _"Maybe this team will be different." _He thought indifferent. But even though he cared little if he would get a genin team, something about these three made his heart a little bit happier. Sasuke reminded him of when Kakashi was younger, Sakura was Rin but more hyperactive, and Naruto was Obito in many ways.

The three turned.

"You're late Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura puffed.

"Hnn," Sasuke grunted annoyed.

"Whats up," said the blond.

Soon Kakashi explained to the trio that he had two silver bells with him, and that only the ones who could manage to get a bell would pass and become genin. He found it strange when none of the three flinched. He had at least thought they would be surprised.

Kakashi led the three to the third training ground. It had an open clearing with trees surrounding it and an open stream next to it.

"Ready, go!"

"I said go, Naruto," Kakashi said as he was about to pull out his favorite orange book.

Naruto smiled gingerly. Sasuke and Sakura were hidden in nearby trees just according to plan.

"But I'm going to beat you on my own sensei! I'll show you and everyone else that I'm the greatest!" That sounded too corny, but Naruto had to push on.

Kakashi yawned inwardly. He knew he would have to fail this team now.

"I'm a jonin, do you think you can handle me on your own?" Kakashi tried to hint towards teamwork. They fell on deaf ears.

"Yeah whatever, jonin, chunin, genin, they're all the same." Kakashi sweat dropped. Naruto did more than necessary to prove to him that he was indeed the class clown.

Kakashi had read up on Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto's files. Sasuke and Sakura excelled in various subjects. But Naruto was way below average. It said that he was a homeschooled academy student, which was odd because it was the first time that Kakashi had heard of a homeschooled academy student. Naruto, however, was the vessel of the Kyuubi, so maybe that explained things.

Even so, the homeschooling didn't do anything to keep the boy's hyperactive side down. Kakashi observed that the blond was jolty and very predictable. And just as he predicted, said blond charged at him.

It took him no effort to deflect all the punched that Naruto sent his way. Each punch and kick had below average power and technique behind them. It was as if Naruto wasn't trying. Kakashi looked bored as he decided to just dodge everything.

"Now let's see, chapter three," Kakashi said out loud as he flipped open an orange book.

"Hey wait, isn't that Icha Icha Paradise!?" Naruto yelled excited before he stopped attacking. With glowing eyes he pointed towards one of his favorite books. That wasn't a lie, because Naruto enjoyed reading Icha Icha Paradise. The romance in it was very interesting.

Kakashi looked up from his book, "you're too young to be reading this Naruto," Kakashi said mildly surprised.

"I read it all the time!" Naruto said happily, "hey isn't that the recent release of Icha Icha? I finished reading it yesterday," Naruto inwardly had a sly smile on his face. He knew from his guard duty that Kakashi loved to read Icha Icha. His own interest in the novel was going to be very handy now.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, Naruto was really goofy. Another year at the academy would do him good. Instead of talking about Icha Icha Paradise, one of the best books in the world, he should focus on his genin test.

"Did you know that in chapter two Mizami hides a box of chocolates so Taro doesn't find them?" And in chapter 3 they," Naruto paused before scratching his head, "in chapter three they go out to the carnival a," he was stopped immediately as Kakashi appeared in front of him delivering a swift kick that sent him flying towards the nearby creek.

"You shouldn't spoil books Naruto, that's not very nice," Kakashi said annoyed, no one ruined Icha Icha for him, even if it was the Hokage himself!

"Sorry sensei, but it was for you to let your guard down," Naruto said as he emerged from the shallow waters. He smiled.

Kakashi widened his eyes. He was tricked!

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A giant ball of fire rocketed towards Kakashi who turned around and formed seals of his own. The heat wave soared into the area where Kakashi was.

Sasuke looked with narrowed eyes at the crisped corpse. Sasuke walked closer to see if Kakashi was still alive. Someone who was late everytime couldn't be that great of a shinobi, could he? Besides, Sasuke was an Uchiha and their fire techniques were the best.

"Behind you Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted from the nearby trees.

"Gotya," Kakashi said as he appeared behind Sasuke.

"No, we got you!" Naruto said grinning ear to ear from the creak, still drenched.

Kakashi wondered what the blond was talking about, but then he looked down and noticed he was standing on a ninja note.

"Good job Sakura," Naruto said as he walked towards them with wet clothes.

"You mean you three had this planned all along?" Kakashi said amazed. There weren't many who could fool him.

"Yes," Naruto said as Sasuke stood to his right and Sakura had walked towards his left.

"How," Kakashi demanded, still trying to get his foot loose from the ninja note, but it was like the note weighed more than a building.

"Do any of you want to explain it?" Naruto asked hiding his grin.

"It was your plan dobe."

"I agree with Sasuke-kun."

"Well then," Naruto said as looked at Kakashi amused, "I knew that you would read all our reports before coming here, even though you give the vibe of an uncaring jonin. So I anticipated that you would think of me as an incompetent person. Having that in mind I played along with your initial thoughts of me and combined that with the coincidental fact that we both enjoy to read Icha Icha, which I definitely saw in your hands yesterday."

Kakashi was baffled.

"Moreover, I attacked you head on to give you an illusion of the person that you already envisioned. I knew you would get bored and read Icha Icha, I actually waited for that. When that book send by the Heaven was out of your pocket and I was about to spoil it for you, I knew you would attack me. So when all your attention was focused on me and Icha Icha, Sasuke came and took it over. But you're a jonin, so we factored that in."

"Factored in?" Kakashi was getting intrigued.

"Yes, that's where Sakura comes in," Naruto nodded towards Sakura," she would make it seem so that Sasuke was getting ambushed when you would make your escape, which we also knew you would do," Naruto sighed, "it was a gamble, but we put everything on you appearing behind Sasuke and touching the Gravity seal." Naruto mentally patted himself on the back for being such a great trickster. He still had it in him.

"I've never heard of a Gravity seal, who made it?" Kakashi inquired.

"Errrr," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "not telling, you're the loser here after all," Naruto grinned. Besides, what good would it do to tell Kakashi who was experienced with seals, that he was a sealing master?

"Well well," Kakashi said, "it seems that you three have outsmarted me."

"Does that mean we pass sensei?" Sakura asked happily.

"No, there are only two bells, and most of the work you and Sasuke did, so I'm only letting you two pass and Naruto is going back to the academy," Kakashi wondered what would happen now.

"Either we pass as one, or none of us do," Sasuke and Sakura said in unison. Both looked startled afterwards, looking at each other awkwardly.

"Is that final?"

"Yes!" Sakura answered firmly.

"Fine, you all pass, now let me out Naruto," Kakashi said.

Kakashi was slightly surprised that none of them looked surprised at realizing that they all passed, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that Naruto had something to do with it.

Sakura jumped in joy. _"I'm going to be a shinobi now, watch me closely mom and dad!"_

Sasuke turned around and looked at the sky. _"One step closer to you onii-san."_

Kakashi watched as Naruto hunched down to release the Gravity seal. He decided the kids needed to know why teamwork was so important, "those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

All three of the newly minted genin looked up with the same realization that Kakashi once felt when Obito told him the same thing.

Naruto dismantled the Gravity seal before picking up the ninja note and storing it in one of his pockets. He stood and was about to go tease Kakashi about already knowing the ending of the latest release of Icha Icha, but then his shinobi senses went crazy. It took him less than a second to realize why.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Demon

Naruto's honed senses kicked in. He relaxed when he noticed where the alert came from. Naruto looked down at his feet unamused.

There was a small dog biting into his leg.

"Down Akamura, you don't want to catch his stupidity do you?" Kiba picked up Akamura as he and his team appeared. Asuma, son of Hiruzen-sensei, walked towards Kakashi. Hinata and Shino were not far from Asuma.

"Too late Kiba, he's already got to be your pet, so he's already stupid," Naruto returned as he yawned. Kiba like the other fresh genin were just small fry under his radar. They couldn't offer him a thrill even if they wanted to.

"Up yours baka," Kiba cursed, "you're so weak, it would take Akamura ten seconds to take you down."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kiba. While the dog boy may be an utter beginner, no way was Naruto going to take that from Kiba, "wanna bet?"

"Heh, you really want to get hurt baka?" Kiba asked as he stood right in Naruto's face, "I'll beat you into the ground so hard that you'll have to look down in shame as I tell everyone what a weakling you are."

"Hey now, what's going on?" Asuma came and asked worriedly, "you guys aren't having a fight are you?"

"No Asuma-sensei, Kiba just agreed to spar with me so we can test out our skills and learn from each other as fellow leaf nin," Naruto answered. All eyes were on him. They never expected Naruto to answer in such a calm way after they noticed how Kiba and he were arguing.

"That's fine," Kakashi added quickly before stepping in between Kiba and Naruto.

In the next five minutes Kakashi explained the rules. No killing blows or attacks that could end one's shinobi career. They were to fight in the same clearing where team 7 had its genin test. Team 7 and 9 save for Kiba and Naruto stood at the sidelines watching as the two faced each other.

"I'll try not to humiliate you too much in front of your team," Kiba said, obviously trying to taunt Naruto.

"Hey Kiba," Naruto whispered so only they could hear.

"What?" Kiba answered.

"After this, don't hate me," Naruto grit his teeth and snarled at the freshly minted genin who answered with a look of confusion

"Begin!" Kakashi said loud enough for everyone to hear.

Kiba immediately ran towards Naruto. When he neared him he rocked his fist back and smashed it with full motion into Naruto's jaw. Naruto in response jolted his head backwards. Kiba delivered more and more punches resulting in Naruto's head and body being stumbled back and forth. After a while of attacking Kiba's mouth opened in shock.

"Shouldn't we stop the fight sensei?" Sakura asked strangely worried about her blond teammate. Naruto before was a loud idiot, but today the blond showed to be sophisticated. Not only that, but Sakura also found a little bit of respect for him when he explained their plan to succeed in the instructor exam to Kakashi-sensei. She would never admit that though.

"I think he can take care of himself," Kakashi said with a cheerful voice.

"He's amazing," Asuma said stunned.

"But he's hurting Naruto and Naruto doesn't seem to be able to do anything back Asuma-sensei!" Sakura added worriedly.

"He's not talking about the dog boy," Sasuke said as he narrowed his eyes at the scene before them.

Hinata knew what Sasuke was talking about. And Shino was clever enough to have noticed it too by now.

"Stand still!" Kiba said frustrated. He couldn't believe that the dead last of the academy could weave and dodge like he did now.

To the untrained eye it may seem that Naruto was taking full swung blows, but in reality he was skilfully moving in the same trajectory as the attacks and so never took one hit. Kiba punched and Naruto leaned his head back enough so the attack wouldn't land. It continued so for minutes. "Impossible," Kiba muttered, "stand still!"

"Where would the fun in that be Kiba-chan?" Naruto asked innocently as he weaved back effortlessly. The reason that Kiba was only punching and not using any other attacks was because Naruto was guiding him, and adding fuel to the genin hailing from the Inuzuka clan. Kiba had a temper that would kill him in the battlefield if he didn't change his ways. Well, one less incompetent shinobi, Naruto thought indifferent. Naruto calculated that Kiba would run out of steam soon.

And just as Naruto predicted, Kiba's punches packed less power and slowed down tremendously from before. "My turn," Naruto with a bored gaze.

The blond contracted his biceps and made a fist. Naruto growled after remembering what Kiba had said.

_I'll beat you into the ground so hard that you'll have to look down in shame as I tell everyone what a weakling you are._

No way he was going to hold back. Genin or not, Kiba was going down. Naruto cackled as a tingly feeling went down his limbs and spine.

Kiba breathed in haste frequency as he noticed that Naruto was making a punch ready to strike him, "too obvious blondy, like I'd let something like that hit me, especially coming from the dead last!" Kiba barked in laughter. Akamura gave a whelp as he could smell the bloodlust coming from Naruto.

Before Kiba could laugh more he stopped and widened his eyes. So did the spectators watching the fight.

In the blink of an eye Naruto disappeared from view and appeared right next to Kiba.

"Don't think I'll let you off easy because you're a weakling," Naruto said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Kakashi!" Asuma shouted with widened eyes.

"Yeah I know," Kakashi said.

Naruto had gone too far, and he knew it, but the words that Kiba said were unforgiveable. In his own anger he had unconsciously powered his fist with telekinetic energy that was so strong that it tore through the air. This went not unnoticed to the two seasoned jonin. Their eyes saw the air current changing when Naruto's punch was on its trajectory to Kiba's temple.

"Take a load of this _baka,_" Naruto said. Naruto suddenly could feel two people appearing right behind him, but it was already too late he thought with a smirk.

Kiba widened his eyes before closing them as he knew he was going to take a big punch.

"Enough!" Asuma shouted as he and Kakashi restrained Naruto's fist from ever reaching Kiba.

Naruto widened his eyes as he released the telekinetic energy from his fist. He only now realized what would have happened if the two jonin hadn't stopped him. _"Shit, I almost killed him," _Naruto thought bewildered. That wasn't like him at all. _"What's going on?"_ He suddenly felt much calmer.

Kakashi called the winner of the fight while holding up his new student's arm. When Naruto looked around, he noticed several strongly contrasting looks. Sasuke had his eyes narrowed. Sakura had her eyes widened. Hinata had her hands in front of her mouth and Shino looked somewhat surprised behind his glasses. They all shared the look of shock of anything.

{Demon}

_Later that day_

Naruto was in his apartment next to the Hokage's building. Years before he had lived in another district of Konoha, but since he became the personal student of Hiruzen, he was granted living quarters near his sensei. It was also ideal for his bodyguard duties.

Naruto's home existed out of a single floor with five rooms. One room with shower and a washing machine, one where he slept, a living room, a study room and a room where he performed his sealing jutsu. Usually the blond could be found in his study or sealing room. Today was not such day however.

The blond was in his living room where a large table stood. This is where he and Hiruzen would often speak about important and trivial things. Now the blond sat alone. The time was when normal people would have dinner. Naruto however had no hunger. No lamps were lit in the living room. He sat alone with his bangs hiding his eyes and the shadows that the moon cast inside hovering over his body.

It was a hard pill to swallow for Naruto when he was first told of his burden. Today was one of the few days that he had fear for the demon inside of him.

"Kyuubi, is this your doing?" Naruto asked softly. No answer came, but Naruto knew that the nine tailed fox of destruction and chaos was behind his previous outburst, even though they had never spoken. Why else would he want to have killed Kiba? It was not like him to want hurt upon fellow leaf nin.

_I'll beat you into the ground so hard that you'll have to look down in shame as I tell everyone what a weakling you are._

That night Naruto couldn't sleep because he was afraid that the Kyuubi would finally take over.


End file.
